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GLOBAL
DESPOILATION OF THE ENVIRONMENT IS THE KEY ISSUE OF OUR TIME
All of us are
aware that the state of our planet’s health and vitality is deteriorating
rapidly. The human impact on the earth increased enormously in the
twentieth century. In the last thirty years alone, human activity has
destroyed many of our planet's natural resources. Climate change,
flooding, habitat destruction, desertification, pollution, urban
expansion, and famine have all played their part. Scientists
predict that in 50 years, 25% of the
species on Earth will have disappeared. The CO2 that has been released
into the atmosphere will continue to cause global warming for the next 100
years. One billion people suffer from a shortage of fresh
water and many more will suffer as global warming takes its toll.
The web of life is
unraveling.
Every problem facing the world community is interrelated.
Exploitation and greed, the consequent poverty of human communities,
displacement of people, environmental degradation, all impact on each
other. It is not possible to tackle one without attempting to tackle
another.
Certainly, these matters are political and economic
issues. But at a deeper level, they are much more. We desperately need a
change of spirit. Saving our environment is one of the most urgent moral
issues of our time. It begins by recognizing the inter-relatedness of all
life. Sustainable development cannot be defined in economic terms alone.
It is not sustainable if it steals from present and future
generations.
Canadians share a common origin and destiny and we
should be drawn together to share responsibility for the planetary crisis
now upon us. Our focus should be on the well being of our planet. There is
an urgent need for change towards development programs that decouple
growth from the environment. We must act immediately:
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to take action in
solidarity with people most affected by climate change.
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to respect Canada's
commitment made under the Kyoto Protocol.
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to recognize the need for
subsequent stronger efforts, such as setting new targets and timetables
for increased use of renewable energies.
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to continue to address
the urgency of the intolerable burden of un-payable debt on the world’s
poorest nations.
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to work together with
other nations for peace, justice and economic prosperity within a
context of ecological stability.
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to recognize that
development is not sustainable if it steals from present and future
generations.
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to recognize that poverty
and environmental degradation are interwoven, and that it is the poor
who suffer most from this degradation.
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to be committed to
policies that enhance the quality of the rivers and the land, the sea
and the air and protect endangered species and all forms of
life.
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to act consistently in
ways that affirm the intrinsic worth of this amazing planet, recognizing
that all its resources are entrusted to human beings to be handed down
responsibly and faithfully to future generations.
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to demonstrate simplicity
of lifestyle in our patterns of consumption to counteract greed and
over-consumption.
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to be thoughtful about
the use of resources in all places where we live, work and relax,
especially in regard to the use of recyclable goods and in the disposal
of refuse.
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to undertake to do all in
our power to act in ways that will assist in the achievement of these
goals.
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to spread a better
understanding of planet Earth, which recognizes that human beings are
part of the ecological order, not separate from it. This will make a
major contribution to the transforming change that is essential for the
well-being of everyone living on this planet in this third
millennium.
The world is a
living biological organism, not just a planetary rock with life somehow
superimposed on it. Life clearly does more than adapt to Earth. It changes
Earth for its own purposes. Evolution is a tightly coupled dance, with
life and the material environment as partners.
Since the
industrial revolution, the rate of economic growth and the concomitant
creation of wealth have been unprecedented. Sadly, the bulk of the
benefits have fallen to a privileged few. Poverty continues to afflict
large numbers of people in most countries. It remains the plight of
billions of our companions on planet earth. And, poverty has played a
very small part in the waste and despoliation of the environment and the
planet’s natural resources.
Short-term
gain, indiscipline and the willful ignorance of the consequences of our
system of development, as well as our sorry lack of determination to take
corrective action, are the main culprits. The litany of our damaging
practices is long: our poisoning of fresh water, our over fishing, our use
of pesticides like DDT and our pollution of the atmosphere through
dependence on fossil fuels only begin the list. In a sense, one could say
that the world's richest countries have sought only short-term gain, with
the trade-off being long-term pain for the world's poorest
countries.
So while the
growth model has brought remarkable benefits in wealth and in health to a
privileged few, it has done little for the vast majority of human beings,
and has dangerously altered the balance of all life on Earth, on what Carl
Sagan described as our “pale blue dot”. Ignorance of the consequences is
really not a convincing argument for a race that has walked on the moon,
split an atom and mapped its own genome. We can't get off the hook that
easily. Homo sapiens is a smart species and it could have tackled and
solved many of the problems of hunger and misery that afflict a great
number of us today.
Trade and aid
can alleviate poverty, but we now know that growth can't be pursued at the
expense of all living things on our planet. The countries that
produce most of the pollution must act to break the link between economic
expansion and despoilment. Perhaps polluter-pays policies or new technology will help. We can
use alternative energy sources and cut pesticide use. We must also move
quickly:
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to
acknowledge that our actions must now take place in the context of a
life and death planetary crisis whose impact affects all aspects of our
lives.
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to bring
actions concerning ecology, environmental justice, human rights, and
sustainable development to the forefront of public attention and to make
private enterprise and corporations reflect on their role as responsible
members of a global society.
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to help
Canadian citizens realize that morality calls on us to care for our
environment and to make Earth a habitable place for the next
generation.
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to support
initiatives in our communities that are concerned with the planetary
crisis and to encourage leaders in our communities to place this crisis
at the highest level of their concerns.
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to help
publicize and distribute information, and to promote training and
educational programs regarding the planetary crisis, not least, as it
relates to community life.
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to encourage
and support public policies, which reflect the principles of sustainable
community.
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to support
the struggle of indigenous peoples to maintain their cultural heritage,
natural heritage, and human rights.
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to
demonstrate simplicity of lifestyle in our patterns of consumption and
to counteract greed and over-consumption. Such greed dictates so much of
our economic past that it must be transformed into generosity and
compassion.
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to encourage
social responsibility and work together to produce resource material
that will assist small groups and individuals in taking action for the
well-being of the planet.
The world
community has reached a crucial moment in its history. It is a moment of
profound choice. We have to choose! We either continue to be dominated by
a philosophy of ownership, which ultimately destroys, or a commitment to
stewardship, which has the potential to renew. To accept the stewardship
is to live responsibly as custodians of this amazing planet and to do so
on behalf of future generations.
History will
judge us harshly if we fail to use the opportunities that are available
and visible to us to address the planetary crisis that we created. The
gaia dance between Earth and life may well continue on this planet, though
homo sapiens might not be there as partners.
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